What Is a Featured Snippet, in Google's Words?
Google's developer documentation says: “Featured snippets are special boxes where the format of a regular search result is reversed, showing the descriptive snippet first. They can also appear within a related questions group (also known as ‘People Also Ask’)” (Google Search Central). Danny Sullivan explained the name in 2018: “With featured snippets, we reverse the usual format. We're featuring the snippet, hence the ‘featured snippet’ name”, adding that Google generates them “in a different way from our regular snippets, so that they're easier to read” (Google).
Google's consumer help page lists three places they appear: “At the top of the search results”, “In the ‘People also ask’ section”, and “Next to the Knowledge Graph information”. It says they “are shown when Google thinks people want answers that can be found in a short piece of a website” and that “Usually, there's only one box, but sometimes there can be more” (Google Search Help).
Featured Snippets at a Glance
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A result that shows a page excerpt before its title and link | |
| Introduced | January 2014 | Google, 2018 |
| Where it appears | Top of results, People Also Ask, next to Knowledge Graph information | Google Search Help |
| Who chooses | Google's systems; pages cannot be marked as featured | |
| Opting out | nosnippet, data-nosnippet, or a low max-snippet value | |
| Where it links | Directly to the quoted section of the page where possible | |
| Related terms | Rich result, knowledge panel, AI Overview, People Also Ask | See comparison table below |
Where Featured Snippets Come From
Google says it introduced featured snippets in January 2014 and that “there were some concerns that they might cause publishers to lose traffic.” Its 2018 post argued that “featured snippets do indeed drive traffic” and that they are “especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice”, where for spoken answers Google cites the source page (Google). The same post acknowledged failures, including snippets that said “women are evil”, and said Google had not weighed “the authoritativeness of results strongly enough for such rare and fringe queries.” It quoted a third-party test by Stone Temple that found “a 97.4 percent accuracy rate for featured snippets and related formats like Knowledge Graph information.”
How Google Chooses a Featured Snippet
Google gives a short answer and no formula. Its help page says it “picks them based on how well they answer your question and how helpful they are” (Google Search Help). Its developer page is blunter: “How can I mark my page as a featured snippet? You can't. Google systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet for a user's search request, and if so, elevates it” (Google). There is no structured data type for featured snippets, unlike rich results.
Third-party data suggests ranking comes first. Ahrefs reported that, in its data, “it is 99.58% positive that Google only features pages that already rank in the top10”, and that only 30.9% of featured snippets came from the page ranked first (Ahrefs). The answer is usually an existing passage on a page that already ranks, written plainly enough to quote. When a reader clicks, Google says it takes them “directly to the section of the page that appeared in the featured snippet” where the browser supports it.
Average share of clicks on the results page, percent
Source: Ahrefs, “Ahrefs' Study Of 2 Million Featured Snippets: 10 Important Takeaways”, published May 30, 2017 (page modified December 18, 2025), sample of 100,000 keywords with at least 100 monthly searches, no ads, branded queries with sitelinks excluded.
Ahrefs sells SEO software. The study predates AI Overviews, so treat it as historical.
What Featured Snippets Do to Clicks
The evidence is mixed and dated. Google's 2018 position was that featured snippets drive traffic. Ahrefs' 2017 study found the reverse for the snippet itself: when a featured snippet sat at the top, it received about 8.6% of clicks on average while the page below got about 19.6%, compared with about 26% for a normal first result with no snippet (Ahrefs). Ahrefs concluded that “it looks like the featured snippet is stealing clicks from the #1 ranking result.” That is one vendor's sample from 2017, before AI Overviews. A featured snippet can also answer the question completely, which is part of the wider pattern of zero-click search.
How to Opt Out of Featured Snippets
Google documents three controls (Google):
- nosnippet blocks all snippets for a page, featured and regular. Text inside an element with
data-nosnippet“won't appear in featured snippets or regular snippets either.” - max-snippet limits snippet length. Google says “the shorter your max-snippet rule setting, the less likely the page will appear as a featured snippet”, but also that it “does not provide an exact minimum length” and that a low setting “doesn't guarantee” removal.
- For a guaranteed result, Google says: “If you need a guaranteed solution, use the nosnippet rule.”
These same rules affect how text appears in AI features; see how to control snippets and AI Overviews before changing them.
When Google Removes a Featured Snippet
Featured snippets have content policies on top of Google's general Search rules. Google's help page lists categories including dangerous, deceptive, harassing and hateful content and medical content, plus a feature-specific rule: “Featured snippets about public interest content shouldn't contradict well-established or expert consensus support”, covering civic, historical, medical and scientific issues. It also says that “if a website has many snippets that break the rules, Google stops showing any featured snippets from that website” (Google Search Help).
Featured Snippets and AI Overviews
AI Overviews now often sit where a featured snippet would have. Google's AI features guide says “There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary” (Google); see what a Google AI Overview is. Google has not published how often featured snippets appear now. The tracker data we found is small: Glenn Gabe reported Ahrefs counts for two sites falling from 1.3 million to 839,000 and from 307,000 to 132,000 queries with featured snippets between September 2024 and March 2025, and said his view that AI Overviews are replacing them was a belief, not a confirmed change (GSQi).
Index: September 2024 = 100 (Ahrefs keyword data for queries each site ranks for)
Source: Glenn Gabe, GSQi, “Are Featured Snippets Losing Their Feature? How To Track Featured Snippet prevalence over time (as AI overviews take over)”, March 3, 2025; index calculated by Media Morpheus from the counts reported (the post reports drops of 35% and 57%).
Two sites chosen by the author for stable rankings; the post says the drop appeared in a number of verticals, not all. Counts are all featured snippets on the results pages for each site's queries, not snippets the sites won.
Featured Snippet vs Related Terms
| Term | What it is | Relationship to featured snippets |
|---|---|---|
| Regular snippet | The description under a result's title | A featured snippet reverses the order and shows it first |
| Rich result | A result enhanced by structured data | Rich results need markup; featured snippets cannot be marked up |
| Knowledge panel | A box of facts about an entity | Drawn from the Knowledge Graph; see what a knowledge graph is |
| AI Overview | A generated summary with links | Generated from several sources; a featured snippet quotes one page |
| People Also Ask | Expandable related questions | Google says featured snippets can appear inside it |
Common Misconceptions About Featured Snippets
| Myth | What the source actually says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Schema markup gets you a featured snippet | “How can I mark my page as a featured snippet? You can't.” | |
| A featured snippet always increases traffic | Google says they drive traffic; Ahrefs' 2017 data showed lower click share for the snippet than a normal top result | Google; Ahrefs |
| Any page can be featured | Ahrefs found 99.58% of featured pages already ranked in the top 10 | Ahrefs |
| max-snippet reliably removes a featured snippet | Google says a low value “doesn't guarantee” it; use nosnippet | |
| Featured snippets are always accurate | Google acknowledged failures and removes snippets that break its policies | Google; Google Search Help |
For how ranking relates to being quoted by AI tools, see ranking in Google versus being cited by AI and AI Overviews vs AI Mode.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a featured snippet in simple terms?
It is a Google result that shows a short excerpt from a web page first, above the title and link, to answer a question directly.
How do I get a featured snippet?
Google says you cannot mark a page as one; its systems choose. Third-party data suggests the page usually already ranks in the top 10 and contains a clear passage that answers the query.
Is there schema markup for featured snippets?
No. Featured snippets are not a structured data feature. Google says you can't mark a page as a featured snippet.
How do I stop my page appearing as a featured snippet?
Use the nosnippet rule for a guaranteed result, or data-nosnippet on specific text. A low max-snippet value makes it less likely but, Google says, does not guarantee it.
Do featured snippets bring more clicks?
Google says they drive traffic. A 2017 Ahrefs study found the featured snippet got about 8.6% of clicks versus about 26% for a normal top result. The data is old and from a vendor.
Have AI Overviews replaced featured snippets?
Google has not said so. Small tracker samples show fewer featured snippets since late 2024 as AI Overviews expanded, but no official figure exists.
Sources and Methodology
This explainer is built from Google's featured snippets documentation (last updated December 10, 2025), Google Search Help on featured snippets, Google's 2018 reintroduction post, Google's AI features guide, the Ahrefs featured snippets study and Glenn Gabe's March 2025 GSQi post, all read on October 10, 2026. Google statements are quoted verbatim. The click and prevalence figures come from third parties: Ahrefs sells SEO software and its study dates from 2017; the GSQi figures cover two sites. We calculated the index values in the second chart from the counts in the post. We did not run our own SERP sample.
- official Google Search Central, Featured snippets and your website, last updated December 10, 2025. Read October 10, 2026.
- official Google Search Help, How Google's featured snippets work. Read October 10, 2026.
- official Google, Danny Sullivan, A reintroduction to Google's featured snippets, January 30, 2018. Read October 10, 2026.
- official Google Search Central, AI Features and Your Website, last updated December 10, 2025. Read October 10, 2026.
- vendor Ahrefs, Ahrefs' Study Of 2 Million Featured Snippets: 10 Important Takeaways, published May 30, 2017, modified December 18, 2025. Ahrefs sells SEO software. Read October 10, 2026.
- trade Glenn Gabe, GSQi, Are Featured Snippets Losing Their Feature? How To Track Featured Snippet prevalence over time (as AI overviews take over), March 3, 2025. Consultant analysis of Ahrefs data for two sites. Read October 10, 2026.